Robin Thicke's online question and answer session backfired, when Twitter users hijacked it to vent their fury at the star's "sexist" lyrics.

Music channel VH1 put a call-out on the social media platform asking for questions to put to the Blurred Lines singer in what should have been a light-hearted probing.

But using the hashtag #askthicke, many people expressed their outrage at the Canadian chart-topper's lyrics and the video accompanying his big hit which featured naked female models dancing.

Last year Thicke was named "sexist of the year" by the campaign group End Violence Against Women Coalition. The group pointed to comments he had made in interviews including one given to GQ magazine in which he said: "People say, 'Hey, do you think this is degrading to women?' I'm like, 'Of course it is. What a pleasure it is to degrade a woman. I've never gotten to do that before'."

Unimpressed online users took the opportunity to ask questions such as "did you really write a rape anthem as a love song for your wife and are you still wondering why she left you?" and " If one of your songs played in a forest and no one was around to hear it would it still be sexist and gross?".

Another commented: "It might seem like some of the questions on this hashtag are cruel and abusive but Robin, I know you want it."